The Explanation of the Hafiz, the Transmitter, and the State of Those Who Dabble in Hadith
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Question:
And among the people. Indeed, some of the hidden matters that have emerged among those who are not part of the community, regarding the errors and factions who preserved the purpose and the Sunnah, and read the purpose from which they took, and took from the principles they borrowed upon, and did not reach the goal that hits them
Answer:
That is, from where did they memorize it? From where did they receive it? From the scholars? From the narrators? Or did they find composed books and read them? This is what is known as memorization: the memorizers who narrated it with chains of narration from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to them, meaning from the same branch to the Messenger, narrating it with its chain and its text from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the hafiz. As for the one who came to existing books and started reading in them and transmitting from them, this is a transmitter, not a hafiz. A transmitter, or in other words, one who reads books from al-Bukhari; he is neither a hadith scholar nor a hafiz. The hafiz is like Ibn Hajar, like al-Bukhari, like Imam Ahmad; these are the hafiz. Like Ibn al-Ma'in, Ibn al-Mubarak; these are the memorizers of hadith and their like among the imams. As for these poor people, they merely read in the books and read; they may not even understand the meaning. The problem is that they do not understand many of the meanings and objectives, because they did not receive the knowledge from its people, and they did not come to the matter from its proper door, but rather they rushed into these books and started transmitting from them: this is authentic, that is weak. This is a very great problem. And as I mentioned to you, if you asked about my specialization, I am a doctor, or I am an engineer, or I am a physicist, my specialization is physics, or I am a graduate of Oxford University or something like that, or the University of Sarb; these are hadith scholars. I swear by Allah, these are the truth. Fear Allah in your religion.
And among the people. Indeed, some of the hidden matters that have emerged among those who are not part of the community, regarding the errors and factions who preserved the purpose and the Sunnah, and read the purpose from which they took, and took from the principles they borrowed upon, and did not reach the goal that hits them
Answer:
That is, from where did they memorize it? From where did they receive it? From the scholars? From the narrators? Or did they find composed books and read them? This is what is known as memorization: the memorizers who narrated it with chains of narration from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to them, meaning from the same branch to the Messenger, narrating it with its chain and its text from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the hafiz. As for the one who came to existing books and started reading in them and transmitting from them, this is a transmitter, not a hafiz. A transmitter, or in other words, one who reads books from al-Bukhari; he is neither a hadith scholar nor a hafiz. The hafiz is like Ibn Hajar, like al-Bukhari, like Imam Ahmad; these are the hafiz. Like Ibn al-Ma'in, Ibn al-Mubarak; these are the memorizers of hadith and their like among the imams. As for these poor people, they merely read in the books and read; they may not even understand the meaning. The problem is that they do not understand many of the meanings and objectives, because they did not receive the knowledge from its people, and they did not come to the matter from its proper door, but rather they rushed into these books and started transmitting from them: this is authentic, that is weak. This is a very great problem. And as I mentioned to you, if you asked about my specialization, I am a doctor, or I am an engineer, or I am a physicist, my specialization is physics, or I am a graduate of Oxford University or something like that, or the University of Sarb; these are hadith scholars. I swear by Allah, these are the truth. Fear Allah in your religion.
Source
شرح العقيدة الواسطية [27] — alfawzan.live (34:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.